In order to obtain a D[irect]C[urrent]-balanced signal, coding and decoding methods of various bit widths are employed. The method best known is eight bit/ten bit (=8 b/10 b) coding and decoding. 8 b/10 b coding/decoding of this kind in most cases comprises a 5 b/6 b coding/decoding block and a 3 b/4 b coding/decoding block.
The basis used for such 5 b/6 b blocks and for such 3 b/4 b block is, in the main, the instructions and the table by Albert X. Widmer (IBM Research Division). For the technological background we would like to draw your attention, as an example, to the prior art publication U.S. Pat. No. 6,911,921 B2 or the paper “8 B/10B Encoding and Decoding for High Speed Applications” published by Albert X. Widmer (IBM Research Division) on 21 Oct. 2004/3 Nov. 2004. FIG. 1A shows the 5 b/6 b coding table by Widmer.
However, the circuit arrangements mentioned by Widmer and others are usable only up to certain bit rates, depending on the technology used, because with such conventional circuit arrangements the run times of many digital gates connected one behind the other add up. This prevents a high coded data transfer.